Earlier this semester, CWRU was recognized for a commitment to enabling alternative transportation when NOACA awarded the university with a Bronze Status in their Commuter’s Choice Awards. NOACA, (or the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency) awarded one Gold award, one Silver award, and four Bronze awards, as well as seven Honorable Mentions. Here at the Office for Sustainability, we are honored to have made the list, and also wanted to take this as an opportunity to talk about some of the great alternative transportation options available here at the CWRU campus.
First up, Cleveland has a network of public transit through the RTA, and this network is extended into University Circle by a series of University circle and CWRU owned shuttles. To plan your route from home to campus, or from campus to downtown or other Cleveland institutions, check out RTA’s website. Additionally, check out CWRU and University Circle’s shuttle routes and schedule. Undergraduates are supplied with a complementary bus pass, and graduate students are offered a discounted pass. To learn more click here!
Another great option is biking. CWRU supports Bike to Work Day, and in fact, we think it’s a great idea if you bike to work everyday! (Although those couple feet of snow might make it tough.) By choosing to ride a bike to work versus drive a car, you could keep .7 tons of CO2 out of our atmosphere a year! In addition to the savings in emissions, bicycles are made with less physical material and take up less physical space, meaning we can encourage walk-able/bike-able diverse spaces, versus parking lots. The environmental benefits of biking are awesome, and at CWRU we have bike racks at most campus buildings and dorms, making it easy to secure your bike while at work or in class.
If you’re looking for a transportation option that better suits these Cleveland winters, consider the ride share options we have available. Through the Ohio Ride Share platform, you can connect with other members of the CWRU community to set up a carpool to or from campus. Additionally, CWRU faculty, staff, and students 18 and up can rent a car through the Enterprise Car Share program on campus. This program enables members of the CWRU community to go without a car, renting a car only when they really need it.
Lastly, there’s CWRU’s new alternative fuel shuttle, that offers a transportation option from campus to the University Farm. The 32-passenger shuttle runs on compressed natural gas (CNG), which is a clean, burning fuel, optimal for dense urban environments where air pollution is a health and environmental concern. Standard Parking is operating the shuttle for CWRU, and publishes the weekly schedule. The shuttle is meant to provide students, faculty and staff with more access to the University Farm for research, volunteering and recreation.
Story by Morgan Bulger